Chapter 397 Xiangxi Tusi
Ma Jinzhong led his troops to Changsha ahead of schedule. Surprisingly, he not only brought back 15,000 troops from the 11th Regiment, but also 5,000 Tusi soldiers and followers.

Danchu had no good feelings towards the chieftains of western Hunan. This was because in the first year of the Yongli reign, the Ningnan General of the Qing Dynasty, Aljin, and the King of Gongshun, Kong Youde, invaded Huguang. When the army entered western Hunan, many chieftains joined the rebellion and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

Unlike the chieftains in western Guangdong, although the Qing Dynasty invaded western Guangdong many times, it never occupied it. The four major chieftain families in western Guangdong, namely the Cen family, the Tan family, the Wei family and the Tian family, rarely surrendered to the Tartars.

Seeing that Danchu was not very happy, Ma Jinzhong advised: “Your Majesty, the chieftains have formed their own system, and they are close to and distant from the court. They have never been willing to keep their integrity. Although the chieftains of Xiangxi surrendered to the Tartars, it was just a temporary measure and should not be taken seriously.

“I lost several battles and had to retreat to Xiangxi, where I had frequent exchanges with the chieftains. They never took advantage of my misfortune, but instead secretly protected me, provided me with food and medicine, and provided me with a lot of assistance. The king is open to all, and if he is willing to accept the chieftains, he will surely support them until death.”

Jiao Lian had also been in Huguang for many years and had fought side by side with the Xiangxi Tusi soldiers. He echoed, “What Ma Zhen said is very true. The Xiangxi Tusi has lasted for more than a thousand years and their power is intertwined. The Tusi soldiers are good at using poison arrows and are brave and good at fighting. They are even better than the Tusi soldiers in western Guangdong. As far as I know, the Xiangxi Tusi were more hostile to the Dashun Army and the Dashi Army, and more friendly to the Ming Army. When the Xiangxi Tusi surrendered to Kong Youde, it was not out of their own will, but because they were afraid of the Qing army, and surrendered to maintain their hereditary status as Tusi.”

Danchu seemed to be thinking about something and flipped through the post sent by Tusi.

At the top is Baojing chieftain Peng Chaozhu, who inherited the position in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign. His official title was “Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army and Envoy of the Baojing Xuanwei Office.”

The second was Yongshun chieftain Peng Hongshu, whose official title was “Yongshun Xuanweishi Xuanweishi”, with the courtesy name Hairuo and the alias Qianxuan. He inherited the position in the fifth year of Chongzhen.

Further down are several small chieftains, including Liangjiangkou Chieftainship, Laredong Chieftainship, Xiadong Chieftainship, Shangdong Chieftainship, etc.

The handwriting on these posts is quite delicate, and the manuscript paper is also of high quality, no different from that of Han scholars in the mainland.

Danchu was not familiar with the chieftains of Xiangxi, so he asked, “I heard that the chieftain of Yongshun is the most powerful among the chieftains of Xiangsi. How come the chieftain of Baojing has the title of Left Army Commander and is ranked ahead of the chieftain of Yongshun?”

The ancients were very particular about the order of precedence. This time, the chieftains from western Hunan brought a total of 5,000 people with them. The chieftain from Yongshun had the largest number of people, with a total of 2,000. The chieftain from Baojing was second, with 1,500 people. The other chieftains, big or small, had hundreds or even 100 to 200 people.

Baojing chieftain Peng Chaozhu was ranked before Yongshun chieftain Peng Hongshu, naturally because he had the additional title of governor of the Left Army Governor’s Office.

Ma Jinzhong replied, “In the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong attacked Huguang, and Xiangxi reported the incident. At that time, the Western Army had already broken through Taoyuan and built a floating bridge to cross Baima Ferry. Peng Chaozhu led his troops to guard the pass and sent out sentries to intercept them. After several rounds of fighting, there was no clear winner, so he sent troops to attack again and won a great victory. Emperor Wei was very pleased and specially granted him the first-rank clothing of Mangyu Zheng, and appointed him as the governor of the Zuojun Dudufu.”

Although the title of Left General during the Chongzhen period was an honorary title, it was still valuable after all.

The counselor Qian Bingdeng was knowledgeable and said: “The chieftains of Yongshun originated from the Peng family of Xizhou. They were not only the largest chieftains in Xiangxi, but also the largest chieftains in the entire Huguang region. Before the Hongwu reign, the Peng family of Xizhou was known as the ‘Lord of the Capital’ and controlled dozens of chieftains of all sizes in Xiangxi.

“These chieftains, big and small, actually have the same ancestor, Peng Yu, who was a Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty. He served as Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, Wuchang Jiedushi, Jianxiu Situ, Taifu, and Chenzhou Governor. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Peng Yu occupied Xiangxi and became the first chieftain king of Xiangxi.

“In order to divide and check the Yongshun Tusi, the imperial court once established Yangshan Guard and Chongshan Guard in the territory of Yongshun Tusi. Later, due to the rugged roads, the guards were abandoned. Later, Baojing Tusi and Jiangkou Tusi were appointed to control them.

“Afterwards, the imperial court recognized the autonomous status of the Xiangxi Tusi, but forced the Tusi’s children to go to school and gave them quotas for tribute students. The Tusi had increasingly close ties with the imperial court, and whenever the imperial court had a major expedition, it would often dispatch local soldiers from the Xiangxi Tusi.”

Throughout the Ming dynasty, the imperial court had been working hard to implement the policy of “reforming the natives and returning them to the Han people”, and did not hesitate to launch brutal wars for this purpose. This greatly accelerated the process of ethnic minorities integrating into the unified dynasty, which was a great achievement for the present and a great benefit for future generations.

The posts written by the Xiangxi Tusi were very well written, and were no different from those written by the Han Chinese in the mainland. From this detail alone, we can see that the Xiangxi Tusi had been highly sinicized. At least, it can be said that they, like the Yuexi Tusi, were proud of being able to speak Chinese, recognize Chinese characters, and obtain official titles from the court. Ma Jinzhong echoed: “The Xiangxi Tusi was quite powerful, surpassing the Yuexi Tusi. On the one hand, the Wuling Mountain area was rich in nanmu, which was often paid as tribute to the court. On the other hand, the court often recruited local soldiers and allocated a large amount of military pay for the Tusi.”

Danchu had an idea in mind, and after a brief discussion with the generals, he ordered an audience with the chieftains. To be solemn, he put on golden armor and went out of the camp gate to greet them.

The chieftains were delighted and knelt outside the camp gate to meet Danchu, claiming they were guilty.

“Please stand up, please stand up.” Danchu personally helped the chieftains up and said, “This clan is different from others. We don’t like kneeling and bowing. When we meet again in the future, we can just perform the military salute.”

The most solemn military salute is simply to bend one knee and kneel on the ground.

Peng Chaozhu, the chieftain of Baojing, was the most prestigious. He represented all the chieftains and said, “I have long heard that the king is wise and benevolent. Now that I have seen your face, I have no regrets in my life.”

“Haha,” Danchu laughed, leaving the other chieftains with the impression of a heroic leader who was not bound by rules.

When they entered the camp, the guards had already set up a banquet outside the central army tent. Jiao Lian, Ma Jinzhong, Qian Bingdeng, and Ferreira accompanied them, while Peng Chaozhu and six other chieftains of the Peng family sat at a row of wine tables on the left to show their courtesy.

Danchu raised his glass and invited him to drink, saying, “The Red Army is fighting fiercely with the Tartars. They attacked the north gate several times before but failed. Ma Sanbao has been confronting Tunqi in the south of the city for a long time. A few days ago, he fought a great battle and defeated Tunqi, seizing the two camps of Chigang and Baoziling.

“The Red Army is short of manpower, so it cannot show its might. Today, the chieftains have led their elite troops to reinforce Changsha, just like timely assistance. This vassal knows that Changsha will be captured soon.”

The chieftains were overjoyed. Peng Hongshu, the chieftain of Yongshun, said, “We have been living in poverty in western Hunan and have been unable to send troops to fight against the invaders. We deserve death. We heard that the king won a great victory in Jiangxi, killing Chen Jin and Zhumala. We are eager to try, but we are afraid that the road ahead will be long and difficult.

“When we heard that the king had sent troops to Hunan, defeated Tunqi, conquered Hengzhou, and marched north to Changsha, we organized our troops and were ready to obey the king’s orders at any time. Therefore, when Ma Zhen entered Changde, we all responded in unison, and we all wanted to follow the king to achieve great things.”

Ma Jinzhong was familiar with them and said with a smile: “You may not know that when the king was in western Guangdong, he had a very good relationship with the chieftain of the Cen family. Not only did he marry the daughter of the chieftain of Sisi, he also recruited a large number of local soldiers to join the Red Army and granted the chieftain military power. You must have heard of the famous Huben Town. The third regiment of the personal soldiers under Huben Town are all local soldiers from western Guangdong. The commander of the regiment, Cen Guangyun, was originally the chieftain of Tianzhou.”

The chieftains were envious and exchanged glances with each other. With Cen Danchu’s current status, it was naturally impossible for him to marry the chieftains of Xiangxi. However, it should be no problem to incorporate the local soldiers into the Red Army and confer the title of Red Army officer on the chieftains.

Peng Chaozhu summoned up his courage and said, “The local soldiers in western Hunan are also brave and good at fighting. If the king does not abandon us, please accept us into the Red Army. We are willing to be a lieutenant in the Red Army, take the blame and make meritorious contributions, and go through fire and water for the king.”

Danchu also had this idea, and laughed loudly, saying, “Your kindness is what our clan has been looking for. In the future, when we fight the Tartars, we will rely on your talents. So, the Red Army will form the 13th Infantry Brigade, which will be composed entirely of local soldiers from western Hunan. You can choose a person with great prestige as the brigade commander, or you can choose a general from the Red Army as the brigade commander.”

There were many factions of chieftains in western Hunan, and it was difficult to elect a leader. The chieftains were all shrewd people. After hearing what Danchu meant, they knew that he was going to send someone to lead the chieftains. They said, “We don’t understand the Red Army system. We beg the Lord to choose a general to lead us to achieve great things.”

Danchu already had a candidate in mind, and that was Ma Jinzhong’s son Ma Weixing. Ma Weixing was brave and good at fighting, and was also familiar with the chieftains of western Hunan. Having him as the assistant commander would help dispel the chieftains’ suspicions.

(End of this chapter)